


Soji's Rain

by justanotherramblingfangirl



Series: I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain [2]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Picard
Genre: Alternative Perspective, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, More angst, Unhealthy Relationships, but i had to put him in here, just read the summary please, like i said narek's a bit of a jerk, no beta we die like men, soji deserves better than narek, soji's a boss though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:20:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26092516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanotherramblingfangirl/pseuds/justanotherramblingfangirl
Summary: After Dahj's death, the late Commander Data's legacy passes on to her sister, Soji Asha. Just as in Dahj's Fire, this is my version of Soji's activation, and how her choices aboard the Artifact changed her life. For better or worse? That, dear reader, is up to you.Note: If you haven't read the first work in this series, Dahj's Fire, it's not essential, but it may be helpful for you to get a better understanding of this one.
Relationships: Soji Asha/Narek
Series: I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885375
Comments: 7
Kudos: 7





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> OMIGOSH THANK YOU THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS LIL THING I HAD NO IDEA Y'ALL WOULD LIKE IT I JUST  
> *deep breathes* *attempts to rein in the crazy fangirl*  
> Seriously, thank you so much. I'm trying not to be that person that gets super excited when they get like 3 likes, but yay! Shoutout to badwolfkaily, Jadynof9, and kelsusie for giving me kudos on Dahj's Fire.  
> Anyway...on to the story! I wrote this the day after I finished Dahj's Fire, and I really liked how it turned out. (Although Dahj is significantly more awesome in my opinion- don't hurt me, Trekkers). Ok, sorry, I'll stop rambling- here we go!

She was just coming off her shift, planning on heading straight for her desk in her quarters so she could continue working on her project, but Soji wasn’t expecting to run into the executive director for the Borg Reclamation project.

“I really don’t know what to say, Dr. Asha,” Hugh commented smoothly as Soji was finishing up her work. She turned around quickly, a little surprised to see the director there. Had she done something wrong?

“Your work here has always been excellent, but speaking to a Nameless in his own language?” He paused, and Soji tensed slightly. Now she was sure of it. She couldn’t explain some of the things her mind could do, but she wasn’t completely clueless.

“Outstanding,” the former drone whispered with a look that was part soft pride, and also- something else. Something more-

 _Sympathetic_.

“You taught me that even a few words in the mother tongue can be soothing. Even in an unconscious state,” she reminded him, wondering what Hugh wanted. Either she was about to be fired, or her career was about to open up in ways she never could have imagined.

Striding over to the operating table, Hugh leaned on the smooth edge, looking down at the eggshell surface. It was shiny from the careful biohazard decontamination device Soji had been using on it just a moment ago, and Hugh looked deep and long at it. Like it held the secrets of the entire sum of Nameless.

 _Maybe for him, it did_.

“There is no more despised people in the galaxy than the XBs,” he said softly. “People either see us as property to be exploited or as a hazard to be warehoused.” Hugh spoke quietly enough that the full extent of his rage wasn’t truly there, but Soji could catch the hidden danger that lurked below, like a trill surfacing from an underwater cave.

“Our hosts, the Romulans, have a more expansive vision,” he went on. “They see us as both.”

Soji shuddered, wondering for the third time what Hugh could be doing here. What he wanted. What the meaning of all this was. But what was more surprising was-

 _The feeling welling up inside her_.

  
It was like a gentle rainfall, emotions falling, and pouring in torrents, and rushing around her.

“I hate it,” Soji said, and then immediately wanted to take it back. Yes, she felt for the XBs and the plight of the Nameless. Yes, the sadness and regret pouring down inside her made her feel obligated to do this job right. But Soji wasn’t really one for outbursts. Her sister Dahj was like that, blurting out whatever she felt the world needed to hear. Soji was more contemplative. She liked to think things through before she acted on them.

Well, except for Narek. She didn’t know what had drawn her to the Romulan with unkempt hair and blue eyes so instantly and so immediately, but every time she thought of him a cool chill went down her spine- not unpleasant, either. Rather like sinking into a river where she couldn’t see the bottom. Dreamy, and oh-so-slightly dangerous at the same time. But Narek was-

“Different,” the director continued, and Soji turned her attention away from the roaring of the thoughts in her head.

“Thank you,” she hesitated, not entirely sure what she was thanking the director for. The chance to stick out even more than she already did on the Artifact, where she was already an anomaly, neither Romulan nor xB? But the next words Hugh uttered swept all of that away.

“I’ve decided to let you have your interview with Ramdha,” he continued, smiling slightly.

“Oh my god, really?” Soji breathed. She couldn’t contain her excitement. Soji had been writing to all the officials on the Artifact who could link her with the former Romulan. She’d read all of Ramdha’s books, scoured her dossier, and tried to trace everything she did back to her work. She couldn’t explain why learning about myth intrigued her so much, but this opportunity was-

 _Incredible_.

Hugh asked her a few more questions, mostly about why she wanted this visit, and also, strangely, about how Soji had acquired Ramdha’s dossier. Soji wasn’t aware that the files of the xBs were so carefully contained. She couldn’t even quite remember how she’d gotten her hands on it. That was how simple it had been. Apparently not so for Hugh.

“Thirty minutes. As an experiment. Then we’ll see how that goes,” he’d told her.


	2. After Ramdha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soji dives deeper into her mysterious past after a disturbing visit with the former XB Ramdha. As she digs further into her and her sister's destinies, she seeks answers from those closest to her while she continues her work on the Artifact. But this time, there's a new threat- and it might not come from where Soji expects it.
> 
> (Takes place during Ep. 3 of Season 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late! And kinda short :/ Yup...ANYWAY, enjoy all you excellent human beans!

Soji re-entered her quarters finally, head reeling from her visit with Ramdha. Thoughts were running around in her brain like a whirlpool, soaking her sanity.

_The Destroyer._

That’s what Ramdha had called her, right before she had grabbed the phaser from that guard and- no. Soji couldn’t think about that right now. Another rush of coolness flowed through her, and she shuddered as she brought up her touch screen to call her mom.

The visit to Ramdha had rattled her, shaken her like the way her sister always would toss her hair after they went swimming together. Soji felt like her thoughts were those water droplets, flying out and breaking apart, shattering.

_I know you._

That was what Ramdha had said in the instant before everything went wrong. Soji knew that it was her. Something was wrong inside her, and that knowledge came spiraling down, a tidal wave that would surge in a roar of destruction. She didn’t know who she was anymore.

“Hi, sweetie!” Her mom’s glowing face lit up before her.

“Mom, is Dahj ok?” Soji needed to know if Ramdha’s disturbing prophecy of life and death had any truth to it. Somehow, her sister was wrapped up in all this too. She listened as her mom rambled on in her loving way, but suddenly her voice seemed to dim slightly as if thousands of raindrops were falling gently into her ears. She nodded her head as her mom detailed Dahj’s plan of getting a puppy, the rain still falling. She could hear it in her head, rushing, thrilling, tantalizing.

Soji awoke to the sound of her door requesting access. She sat up, realizing she hadn’t changed out of her work suit. She must have fallen asleep talking to her mother, what with yesterday’s crashing reality.

“Enter,” she stated, sitting cross-legged on her bed. The door hissed open with a misty sound as Narek stepped in.

“Are you alright?” he asked her. Soji exhaled, feeling cold even though she was nested in warm blankets. For a second, she debated telling Narek nothing, lying and saying that no, she was fine, she’d just gotten tired last night and fallen asleep talking to her mom. But Narek was looking at her with his eyes, and without warning, Soji was sinking into that bottomless river once more. When he looked at her, she felt complete. Whole. As though the danger in the river would never come to pass, and she could simply be herself, innocent and washed clean with love. She found herself telling the whole story, and the more she thought about it, the less sense it made. Pieces were clicking down like drops of water on a sidewalk, but-

_Everything was being washed away._

“Do you believe me?” she asked. She tried to sound noncommittal, like she didn’t care that parts of her mind might not be hers. But it came out pleading, begging this handsome man to have the answers she so desperately craved. But he just looked at her, eyes staring into her soul.

_Like a monster in the deep._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah! Here we get our first look at the scumbag that is Narek. Just my opinion, but Narek and his sis are kinda second-rate villains in my book. And a little bit of foreshadowing...DUH DUN DAAAAAAA! Ha ha jk i'mtotallyevilsorrynotsorry.
> 
> See you next Tuesday- don't forget to leave a comment if you liked it!


	3. After the Zhal Makh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soji has reached the tipping point. The moment where she is caught betwixt android and human, sentient and synthetic. Narek has broken her trust, and she is left only with pieces that she does not know how to fit together. Trapped in her past, her feelings, and an ancient Romulan ritual, will Soji be able to find a way into her future? Or will Soji's rain of truth trap her in a flood of her own?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI FAM GUESS WHAT DAY IT ISSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!  
> IT'S TUESDAY which means it's tiiiiiime for another update! (I am so sorry for being ridiculously excited but this is how I get when I'm nervous and/or just having a day that was eh but then got AMAZINGLY BETTER SO YA).   
> *deep breaths* This is why my username is what it is. Feel free to skip past this annoyingly long author's note and enjoy the final chapter!

Soji pounded on the door, tears and sweat swaddling her face. Narek- Narek was- he had left her.

_You’re not real_.

As a child, or in her faked childhood, Dahj had always begged Soji to play pretend with her. But Soji never wanted to. It scared her, the thought that one day she might decide to be someone else and get stuck there, never able to end their foolish game.

_She’d been a fool_.

The glass wouldn’t yield. The guard outside showed no sympathy either. Soji banged on the door, but then she heard a clicking, like the thunderstorm in the dream she wanted to forget. Why had she trusted him? She’d let him into her heart, let him keep her secrets.

In the end, all he did was rip her soul like the torn photograph on her desk.

Soji turned around to the small wooden stool that sat just inside the door. That’s when she realized where the clicks were coming from.

_Narek’s cube_.

As she watched, it unfolded and...nothing. There was nothing inside.

At least, that’s what Soji thought until a red mist expelled out into the chamber. Soji inhaled some and stumbled back, feeling like she’d been hit in the stomach. She was coughing and crying, moaning for some sort of help. But no one came. That’s when she felt it.

_A buzzing in the back of her brain_.

Concentrating, she rose her arm, feeling her limbs cool as ice water. Her vision went swimmy and tinged blue, and then her hand crashed down onto the floor, harder than she’d ever hit anything. Somehow, amid the shower of thoughts, and rain, so much rain, her hand knew how to make a fist. How to fight, she was going to fight, she wasn’t going to let one stupid mistake drown her. She hit the floor again, and again, and let the liquid resolve splash over her, dulling the pain of the bloodred gas. Icy calm crashed upon her, she ripped up the wood, barely feeling the pain in her hands because her brain kept stripping it with more rushing tsunamis, filled with thought, and memory, and resolve.

_Raining resolve_.

Soji remembered last night, where Narek had held her, whispered to her, promised her that he was falling in love with her. What she didn’t know was that she had fallen for him in a way that was far more dangerous. She remembered his lips pressing against hers, silencing her, keeping her hidden from her real mind.

_She wasn’t going to be silent anymore_.

Soji ripped and pulled, splitting the wood like crackers from the replicator. The radiation was causing the temperature to rise, creating heat waves, but Soji felt nothing. The tides inside her raged and roared, and she glanced up toward the window.

_He had promised her everything. But he had left her with nothing_.

She glanced up one last time, seeing Narek through the window, and she vowed she would never be so ignorant again as to fall for his tricks. Soji jumped through the hole she’d made, and the remnants of who Dr. Soji Asha used to be rained down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, comment/review, and THANK YOU for reading Soji's Rain! It means so much to me everytime I see new people have read this or given me kudos, so yeah! Be good to yourself, be good to others, and I will now end the rambling cheesiness. *mallowmelt and custard bursts for everyone*(sorry for the KOTLC reference, couldn't help myself).

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah! Important note about Soji's Rain- it's not a one-shot like Dahj's Fire. So, look forward to more updates in the future, and while you're here, why not leave a comment or review! Thanks so much for reading!


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